Folks,
Introduction:
I first met Gaubi Beijers in May 2016 when we had been working on the recruitment programme for The Road To Lisbon Cycle which would take place a year later on the 11th May 2017
To introduce you, Gaubi is a member of the worldwide Celtic family, who lives and works in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Lisbon:
Gaubi is also a keen cyclist and one was one of the 30 cyclists who took part in the amazing cycle from Celtic Park, Glasgow to the Estadio Nacional, Lisbon
The cycle involved cycling close to 1200 miles across four countries in 15 days with 29 other team members from Scotland, England, Ireland, Spain, Poland, Australia
This epic cycle took place to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Celtic winning the European Cup, raise awareness of three charities, Solving Kids Cancer, Children in Cross Fire and Celtic FC Foundation.
This cycle helped to raise GBP 75,000 for the above three charities.
Milan
Two years after cycling from Glasgow to Lisbon, we launched another charity cycling project to celebrate Celtic playing Feyenoord in the European cup final in Milan on the 6th May 1970.
Like Lisbon, Gaubi was one of the first to sign up to take part in this cycle with objectives of celebrating the Celtic team from 50 years previous, raising awareness and funds for Celtic FC Foundation.
With the Global pandemic CV19 hitting in March 2020, unfortunately we had to cancel the cycle to the San Siro, Milan which was due to roll out of Celtic Park in April of 2020
Seville
With the cycle to Milan cancelled another crazy project was launched which would involve a cycle of circa 1100 miles from Celtic Park, Glasgow to Estadio de La Cartuja, Seville
Where the objectives would be to recognise the Celtic team who went to Seville in May 2003, Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the team reaching the final in Seville, raise awareness and funds for Celtic FC Foundation
Gaubi being both super fit and keen to support the cycling project again committed family time, training time and gave up holidays to take part in the charity event, which raised over GBP 100 K for Celtic FC Foundation
NC 500
In early June this year, there had been a get together in the Scottish Highlands where Gaubi and some friends from the epic charity cycles to Lisbon and Seville had got together to make a cycle through the highlands, known as NC500.
This entailed cycling 500 miles around the North Coast of Scotland, which you can read about here NC500
Gaubi would later mention that this cycle would help with his preparation for Mont Ventoux, three times in one day later in June 2024
Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux is a mountain in the Provence region of France, which at the summit is 6270 feet above sea level !
With it being a mountain, it can get very windy and dangerous for anyone attempting to cycle up the mountain.
With it’s zig zig like roads and steep inclines with some reaching 20 percent, it had proven to one one of the most challenging and extreme stages of the Le Tour De France, where 15 Tours had utilised this within key / critical stages of the race.
Mont Ventoux – Three times in one day
Mont Ventoux can be approached from three different starting points, Bedoin, Malaucene, Sault
In recent years a combination of le tour and fanatical cyclists had developed a challenge to cycle Mont Ventoux from all three approaches all in one day.
The challenge explained, to commence from one starting point, climb and descent the mountain and repeat this on a further two occasions within the same day
In 2015, when making a charity cycle from Foress, Scotland to Celtic Park, I had came across Calumn the friend of a Para Olympic Athlete from Aviemore in Scotland, David Smith
A few months later the BBC had made a documentary about Mont Ventoux, extremities and the dangers of this challenge which Gaubi was planning which you can read about here
The extremities of this challenge, can include long stretches of incline at 12 percent, rising up to 20 percent, soaring temperatures close to 40 degrees, high speed winds, dust clouds and risk of being being blown off the bike and mountain.
The Plan – 22nd June 2024
With an early start around 06:30 am hours, Gaubi set of on his bike with partner Vicki as the support driver / morale support.
With the plan to tackle the Mont Ventoux from three different starting points, Bedoin from the west, Malaucene from the north west and Sault from the south east
From an extract from Strava, we can see the route which Gaubi took
Along with some graphics highlighting the challenge.
The Challenge
With varying winds and temperatures on the day, Gaubi Successfully completed the Epic challenge !
The challenge would see Gaubi achieve !
Cycle: 84.36 miles
Climbing: A massive 14,199 feet
Ride: Climb all 3 sides of the mountain climbed in one day !
Job Done:
After each massive stage had been completed, we can see a very happy Gaubi with his Celtic Foundation – Road To Seville Jersey
Club des Cinglés de Mont Ventoux
Gaubi is now a proud member of this exclusive club, which you can read more about here
Gallery
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